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With last week’s Conquest “Question of the Week,” we gave you a look at a new screen (above) that gives a glimpse of the tactical gameplay found in the game. In case you missed it, our Bethesda Softworks Newsletter includes two other exclusive screens for the game. To see the new screens, click here to view the latest edition of the newsletter.

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In a very special “Question of the Week” for Conquest, you’ll see we’re also sharing with you a screenshot of the game board for the turn-based strategy part of the game. As for this week’s question, it comes from KO Gilligan from within our Star Trek forums. He asks:

Q: Is Conquest looking to provide both complex turn based strategy and simplified, straight forward game play?

A: What’s really appealing about Conquest is that itâ€˜s a grand strategy game that you can actually finish in a good week of playing and is fun enough and quick enough that you want to play it again and again. I love traditional 4X strategy games, but I find that I rarely finish my campaigns because they simply drag on for too long. After a couple of weeks of intense play, my enthusiasm wanes and I simply stop playing halfway through.

Conquest focuses on the big decisions and removes much of the minutiae. There’s not a lot of sitting around and waiting or endlessly clicking next turn to get what you want. We want people to play each of the races. We want people to try out new strategies with their favorite races. We get you into the hunt quickly and allow you to worry about important things, like planning your invasion of Cardassia.

Q: “In the arcade battles will the battles be fought in full 3D (like Bridge Commander)? Or will it be more like Encounters/Tactical Assault and 2d?”

Here’s a nice lengthy answer from Frank:

A: Arcade Battles in Conquest are fought from a top down 2D view like Encounters and Tactical Assault. There are two main reasons. First, it allows for a greater situational awareness, meaning you can see more of the battlefield. Second it allows for the 360 degree aiming and firing of your weapons which is a key part of our control scheme.This mode is intended for the player who wants direct control over his ships, aiming and weapons.

There are also two other combat modes: Quick Battle and Instant. Quick Battle is like a mini RTS battle where you simply issue orders to your fleet. This mode is for the armchair admiral who wants to personally direct the battle, but is not interested in the action oriented Arcade Battle system.

Instant simply gives you immediate results. It’s for situations where you heavily outnumber your enemy and don’t care about directing the battle, like bringing a fleet of seven dreadnaughts to bear on a single wounded scout.

In practice we find that most players use a mixture of the three modes. “

So within our in the Star Trek: Conquest forums last week, we set up a thread for fans to ask questions about the game. Our first “Question of the Week” comes from member Joelteon7, which Lead Designer Frank Arnot was kind enough to answer.

Q: Can you provide some examples of the special weapons?

A: There are six unique special weapons in the game. One of the nastiest is the Wormhole Generator. With this you can launch a surprise attack transporting an entire fllet across the galaxy. But it can also be used to for defense to instantly bring in reinforcements to defend a friendly system that’s about to be overrun.

Come back next week for another Conquest Question of the Week. Keep the questions coming on the thread or email us!

So we’ve let the journalists do the talking through their articles, but now we’d like to field some of your questions. That’s right, Todd and Co. are going to be willing to talk about more than Batman and their favorite color. If you’ve got something you’re dying to know about Fallout 3, take your suggestion to the forums here. If you want to send them directly to us via the blog, that’s fine too.

In addition to pulling together a list of questions that covers all the things people want to know about, we’ll keep an eye on other questions that get sent to us and pull in a developer every now and then to answer a few questions. You never know when a dev may stop by to answer a question or two from the mailbag, so send in your questions about Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Star Trek Conquest, or whatever it is you want to know and we’ll get to work.

Last week I was able to chat with Frank Arnot, lead designer for Star Trek Conquest. The following Q&A should help you learn a bit more about the game and what it’s all about.

How would you best describe Conquest?

Conquest is a game of galactic domination that mixes turn-based strategy game with arcade elements.

What’s back story for the game?

Because of the nature of the game we have a very straight-forward back story:

It is a time of unrest, all the major races are at war. Age-old alliances are forgotten, diplomacy is dead. Powerful fleets prowl the galaxy establishing outposts and vanquishing indigenous and enemy fleets alike in the pursuit of the ultimate prize – the capture of all home worlds and galactic domination.

Maybe this one doesn’t come as a shocker to Trek fans who caught a sneak peek of the game’s box art last week, but today we’ve officially announced Star Trek: Conquest. Our latest Trek game delivers a combination of action and strategy set during the “Next Generation” era. Here’s a snippit from the press release:

“Players take control of Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, Dominion, and Breen forces and lead them in a campaign to control the Galaxy, one planet at a time. Build and manage your growing empire in turn-based strategy, fully utilizing the Wii Remoteâ„¢ as you select and maneuver your starships throughout the large, galactic map.”

Conquest marks the first time a Star Trek game will be released on the Nintendo Wii — taking advantage of the console’s unique control scheme. For those still struggling to find a Wii at their local gaming store, fear not, the game will also be available on the Playstation 2.

We’ll have more details on Conquest in the weeks to come. In the meantime, check out the press release and forums.